http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/C ... ?id=139070
Treasury refuses R9bn rail link tab.
But Department of Transport insists plan will go ahead.
by LINDA ENSOR
Published: 2011/04/04 06:35:27 AM
CAPE TOWN — The Treasury has put the brakes on the Department of Transport’s ambitious plan to build a R9,3bn high-speed rail link along the Moloto Corridor linking Pretoria and Siyabuswa in Mpumalanga, and is refusing funding for a feasibility study.
But Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele insists the department will proceed with the project even though no funds had been allocated for it in government expenditure projections for the next three years. The Treasury has consistently refused the funding since 2007-08, despite repeated requests by the department.
Asked about the reasons, Treasury spokesman Jabulani Sikhakhane would only say "the national budget is a collective statement of the government of the day". The Treasury letter of allocation — in which the department was told there would be no funding for the feasibility study — was based on a Cabinet decision, he said.
However, Mawethu Vilana, deputy director-general in charge of integrated transport planning in the department , said that Treasury had asked the department to undertake a holistic feasibility study of other alternative modes of public transport such as buses and taxis in addition to the high-speed rail link. He said the study — which would cost between R10m and R15m — should be completed by March next year.
Mr Vilana said this was necessary because conditions had changed since 2008 when the last study was undertaken. "The need for a new study is to look at what would be the best public transport mode (rail, buses or taxis) for the movement of passengers along the corridor," he said.
In a written reply to a parliamentary question by Democratic Alliance MP Donald Smiles, Mr Ndebele said the department had made a motivation for funding of the feasibility study in the medium-term expenditure framework extending for three years from 2011-12.
"The department has, however, been informed that no funding was allocated for the project. In order to secure funding , the department will have to consider reprioritisation of projects within the department’s strategic plan," Mr Ndebele said.
"Given the financial pressures of the 2010 World Cup, the department was not in a position to reprioritise funding within its budget allocation for the 2010-11 financial year.
"There are plans to proceed with this project. The project is being pursued as a public- private partnership (PPP) initiative and has been registered with the National Treasury’s PPP unit," Mr Ndebele said.
The department plans to call for expressions of interest in high-speed rail in July after it has held an investors’ conference aimed at consolidating interest in its transport infrastructure projects, including high-speed rail.
As far back as 2005, through the National Transport Master Plan, the Department of Transport outlined several critical transport projects, including high-speed rail for Johannesburg to Durban, Johannesburg to Musina, and the Moloto Corridor.
The Mpumalanga provincial government concluded a prefeasibility study in 2004 to determine the viability of a rail link along the Moloto Corridor. This was followed by a detailed feasibility study in March 2008, which concluded that the primary section of the Moloto Rail Corridor , a distance of about 120km, was "highly feasible" and would cost an estimated R8,6bn at 2007 values. The most recent estimate is R9,3bn.